Host applications, such as applications associated with web pages, often include interactive displays, such as interactive geographic map displays and computer game displays. The interactive displays cooperate with a user input device to facilitate user interaction with the associated host application. Interactive displays may be rendered locally as an integral portion of an associated host application using data that is retrieved from a remote data source. Alternatively, an interactive display may be rendered locally as an integral portion of an associated application using data that is stored locally.
Geographic mapping applications represent some of the most frequently used computer-based applications. Non-interactive geographic map displays are often statically generated as an integral portion of a host application, such as applications associated with web pages related to municipalities, businesses, universities, resorts, landmarks, nature areas, parks, computer games, etc., in lieu of providing interactive displays.
Rendering interactive displays locally, as an integral portion of an associated host application, requires adding a significant amount of display rendering code to the host application. Addition of display rendering code to a host application increases the amount of memory required to store the host application. Furthermore, when display rendering code is incorporated within a host application, the host application may require updating when corresponding data, used by the display rendering code to render a display, is updated.